Linux How To's | Bash Scripting | Python

Monday, 14 October 2013

A FTP Server will be very useful for those who run a personal website and those who want to upload some large files/directories and download them using a FTP Client. Ubuntu doesn't come with FTP server as a pre-installed package, but you can create one by installing the most popular FTP server on Linux platform- VSFTPD. This tutorial explains how FTP (VSFTPD) Server is installed and configured in Ubuntu and how data can be uploaded to and downloaded from your FTP server.

Here we go!

Step 1: Installation of FTP (VSFTPD) Server

To Install a FTP Server on your Ubuntu System, open the terminal by pressing 'Ctrl + Alt + T' and run the following command:

sudo apt-get install vsftpd

Step 2: Configuring the FTP Server

Note: '#' Symbols are used to comment a line. Whenever you wish to edit a line in order to make some changes, make sure the you remove the '#' symbol to uncomment that line.

After installing the FTP Server, you will need to configure it by editing a configuration file /etc/vsftpd.conf using your favorite text editor.

sudo gedit /etc/vsftpd.conf

Enable/Disable Anonymous FTP

Find the line - anonymous_enable. You can enable/disable the anonymous FTP access by editing this line as follows:

To enable anonymous FTP access,

anonymous_enable=YES

To disable,

anonymous_enable=NO

Allowing Access to Local Users

Find the line- local_enable. To allow access to local users, edit the line as follows:

local_enable=YES

Permitting Users to Upload Files

Find the line- write_enable. To let users upload their data on the server, edit the line as follows:

write_enable=YES

Configuration of FTP Server - 1

The Welcome Banner!

Find the line- ftp_banner and edit it with your welcome message.

ftpd_banner=Welcome to YourOwnLinux FTP Server!!

Once you are done with these things, save the file and exit from the editor.

Configuration of FTP Server - 2

Step 3: Restart the FTP Service

In order the changes made by you to the configuration file to make effects, you need to restart the FTP service by entering following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/vsftpd restart
OR
sudo service vsftpd restart

Step 4: Uploading/Downloading Files to and from the FTP Server

These things are too simple! You just need to put the files you want to upload in a folder- /srv/ftp either using command line (like cp and mv commands) or graphical utilities (like cut-paste, drag-n-drop).